I think we got about the right balance. Out of sheer convenience the Maquis would've folded into the federation fairly quickly as a result of the Dominion War with survivors becoming part of StarFleet with a burning hatred of the Dominion. Mostly because its very difficult to see where they could've fit in the grand scheme of things considering how dense and rich the plots are in seasons 6 and 7.
It's a likely factor yes, but it cannot be proved. For all we know, had the Maquis never existed, Gul Dukat, leader of a 2nd rate power and seeing an opportunity here to get more power in the quadrant (even if it meant becoming a servant to the Dominion temporarily - he seems to have planned on getting rid on them when the time was right), might still have chosen to opportunistically join the Dominion.
That argument would be a big stretch. The Maquis was never an existential threat to Cardassia. When Cardassia joined the Dominion it was because they had just been clobbered by the Klingons, not the Maquis.
A benevolent Federation, yes. That it learned from mistakes in earlier centuries, yes. That the overwhelming majority is content there, yes, I'll take all that. But nobody ever wanting to leave (whether I would agree with their reasons or not) sounds chilling to me.
Nah I think they used him the right amount. I don't think there should have been an episode with him between "For the Cause/Uniform" but perhaps another reference to him or those industrial replicators, but even then with "Uniform" you get enough that the Sisko has been hot on his tail for a while now. He should absolutely still have died in "Blaze of Glory" but should that have been the end of the Maquis? Well in my ideal world no and you'd have Ro and Tom Riker working with Kira, but in reality, without interesting established viewpoint characters like Cal Hudson or Eddington to bounce off the show characters the Maquis as a continuing storyline was over anyway.
The Cardassians were beaten hard by the Klingons, and the Maquis were taking advantage of that situation. Dukat said he joined the Dominion because the Klingons left them a 'third rate power', and while there is truth in that, he ultimately used this as a way to get back into power himself. He went from low rate freighter Gul (after his indiscretion was made public) to leader of the Cardassian government. It was all about him. Eddington was like Dukat in that he had a massive ego and he was playing out his fantasy of being a hero by being a Maquis. I will say Eddington was more willing to put himself in danger for his people than Dukat ever would. Speaking of the Maquis, I actually think they did show them to be at least sympathetic toward the beginning. I certainly was more on their side at first. But when they started attacking outside their colonies, they became full on terrorists and they lost my sympathy.
I think Eddington's end proves that he at least cared for some others - asking Sisko to rescue his wife and other members of that group, while he stayed behind fighting the invaders. Unless of course you deny to attribute even that to him , and you think his sole motive was ensure himself a hero's death. But I don't think so. I think he truly believed in the Maquis cause and that he was willing to die for it, and that at least to that extent, there was more in it for him than just his ego and 'himself'. Even if I agree that his ego played a huge role in it and he may have been far too casual about civilian deaths (in the abstract, i.e. of people he didn't know). Interestingly, the end of that episode has two regulars more or less voice those two opinions, as if they deliberately wanted to leave this point ambiguous:
I got the impression that the only place Ed's ego was a factor was where Sisko was concerned. OTOH, I also got in his last episode that he used that to selfless ends.
Only because they lacked the ability to do so. Eddington did threaten a strike against Cardassia itself, which we know was a ruse - but if he actually could have carried out such an attack, he would have. Eddington and his group would not have shed a single tear if they could have wiped out the entire Cardassian species.
Nor would they have shed a tear if they were able to just be threatening enough to get the Cardassians to leave them alone.
Well him being wasted on something would be the only excuse for all the blabbering BS he spouted whenever he was on screen.
We saw him die on the screen. Every time they resurrect a dead character it weakens the storyline of the whole series. I would have liked to have seen a redeemed and live Tom Riker, perhaps in a prison camp left behind by the retreating Dominion as they pulled back to Cardassia Prime.
I didn’t mean I wanted Eddington resurrected. He did die. I wish he hadn’t died. Now, seeing Tom Riker leave a Cardassion prison after the Dominion War; that would have been be cool. It’s still possible in Picard, but I don’t think the’ll pick up that thread in Picard season 3.